The Undergraduate Majors in Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Who is the major for?
The degree programs in the department of
Brain and Cognitive Sciences offer rigorous but accessible natural science concentrations for students interested
in the brain and how it enables us to perceive, to think and to learn. The programs have two aims: 1) to provide
sound intellectual training that will benefit students in a wide range of career paths; and 2) to provide basic
disciplinary qualification for students contemplating graduate or professional training in the behavioral and
neural sciences. The curricula provide excellent routes to learn the logic and methods of scientific inquiry, how
to reason critically, and provide unique opportunities to engage in real research problems at the frontiers of
knowledge.
For students seeking a general intellectual qualification, Brain and Cognitive Sciences offers some special attractions. First, the questions studied are inherently interesting and immediately relevant. How do we recognize sounds, and learn our native language? What is the brain doing as we listen to speech, identify a face, or reach for a pencil? How do we remember what happened yesterday or during our childhood? How do these remarkable capabilities develop during infancy, and how does the brain become organized to perform tasks that often exceed the capacity of modern computers? Second, the curricula in brain and cognitive sciences provide a uniquely accessible approach to the logic and methods of scientific enquiry: because the disciplines are relatively young, in many areas of study students are brought quickly to the frontiers of knowledge, where they can become engaged directly on real research problems, learning to reason formally, and to write scientific reports succinctly and fluently.
The Curricula
The department offers two degree programs, leading to the Bachelor of Arts degree (B.A.) and the Bachelor of Sciences degree (B.S.).
The B.S. program provides a broad and rigorous natural science education that prepares students for postgraduate work in BCS and related fields (e.g., cognitive science, cognitive neuroscience, computational modeling). In addition to BCS courses, the B.S. curriculum entails a foundation in math, biology, computer programming, and symbolic systems so as to prepare students for all advanced courses within our discipline.
The B.A. program provides introductory background
to all areas of brain and cognitive sciences, and encourages deep exploration of one sub-field within BCS. It
requires fewer courses than the B.S. program and thus allows greater flexibility in overall program planning. The
B.A. program is particularly suitable for students with focused interests in a single area of BCS and those wishing
to pursue double degrees or double majors.
Both degree programs are built around a common curriculum that integrates biological, behavioral and computational approaches to the study of perception, language, thinking, learning, and the development of these capacities. Two foundation courses provide a general introduction to the field; one examines the neural machinery that underlies behavior, and the other introduces the domain of cognitive science. Three core courses build on this introduction by providing a fuller exploration of the major scientific problems we study--perception and action, cognition, and language. Finally, a course in Experimental Design and Analysis and a laboratory course provide a solid grounding in the scientific method and prepare students who might choose to undertake major research projects. These courses stress analytical thinking and the laboratory courses also emphasize the development of technical writing skills.
Beyond the core curriculum, students in both programs have considerable freedom to explore special topics that interest them. Students in the B.A. program take four upper-level elective courses that form a coherent group, or "track." A track can be relatively narrowly focused (for example, on language, artificial intelligence, or development), or it can be broader in scope. Tracks can be drawn from a collection of approved B.A. tracks or assembled by a student with guidance from a faculty member. Students in the B.S. program similarly take four BCS courses that form a coherent track, but also take two allied field electives that fit into the track (see B.S. tracks), and two additional electives that can be either BCS or related allied field courses.